DEG Watched At Home Chart: Scoob! Shakes Up the Chart

July 30th, 2020

The DEG Watched at Home chart remains mostly static this week, with four of the five films in last week’s top five also reaching the top five this week. This includes Trolls World Tour, which has been top for four weeks now. The arrival of Scoob! on disc does shake things up a bit though. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Trolls can’t be Toppled, but Bruce Lee Fights His Way onto the Chart

July 23rd, 2020

There was a major shake-up on the DEG Watched at Home chart this week when compared to last week. Just kidding. The same five releases remained in the top five, just in a slightly different order. This means Trolls World Tour remained locked in first place on the chart and will likely remain there until Scoob! comes out. Universal also led the way with four releases in the top twenty, but unlike last week, it was in a three-way tie with Paramount and Sony. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Trolls Tower over the Rest

July 16th, 2020

The pandemic continues to impact the DEG Watched at Home chart, which is little changed from last week. Trolls World Tour remains in first place on the chart and Universal is the top studio, this time with six entries in the top 20, up from five last week. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Yellowstone is Far from Mellow

July 2nd, 2020

Yellowstone led the way on the DEG Watched at Home chart last week. In fact, the show had three of the top five spots, with season three earning first spot and seasons one and two in third and fourth places respectively. More...

International Round Up: It’s Alive! The Box Office is Alive!

July 2nd, 2020

For the first time in months, there is a real reason to be optimistic about the box office, at least internationally. South Korea became the first market to have an unqualified success since the beginning of the pandemic. Several other markets saw increased box office at the weekend, including France, Spain, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Here are all the details. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Invisible Man Outruns Sonic The Hedgehog

June 25th, 2020

We have a new champ on the DEG Watched at Home chart, as The Invisible Man finally pushed Sonic the Hedgehog out of first place. That wasn’t the only change in the top five. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Hunting for New Entries

June 19th, 2020

There were some changes on the DEG Watched at Home chart this week; however, the top film was the same. Sonic the Hedgehog earned first place for the fourth week in a row, taking full advantage of the pause in new movies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are still rumors that Netflix is looking to buy Paramount. Maybe this success is enough to keep Paramount where it is, or perhaps it just increases the asking price. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Déjà Vu for the DEG

June 11th, 2020

There were no new releases in the top five of the DEG Watched at Home Chart this week. In fact, the top five were exactly the same as they were last week, right down to the order the were in. This isn’t a huge shock, as the new DVD / Blu-ray releases and VOD releases were far from stellar, so there wasn’t anything new to challenge those at the top of the chart. Sonic the Hedgehog remains one of the few bright spots in a movie industry that has been hit hard by the pandemic. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Invisible Man Avoids the Spotlight

June 4th, 2020

The Invisible Man came out on DVD / Blu-ray / 4K last week, but that wasn’t enough to overtake Sonic the Hedgehog on the DEG Watched at Home chart this week. Sonic the Hedgehog has done so well at the box office and now on the home market that I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an army of interns at Paramount Pictures going over every Sega video game ever made to see what else can be turned into a movie. My top three choices are, in alphabetical order, Altered Beast, Arabian Fight, and Golden Axe. Streets of Rage did just get a new installment, so the property could be hot. I could see that video game franchise successfully turned into a Rumble in the Bronx-style film. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Sonic Sneaks into First Place

May 28th, 2020

Sonic the Hedgehog was released on DVD / Blu-ray / 4K last week and that helped it climb into first place on the DEG Watched at Home chart. The film was already in fifth place last week on the strength of its digital releases, so it has had a very profitable run on the home market already. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Preying for a Miracle

May 21st, 2020

Birds of Prey hit DVD / Blu-ray / 4K last week, and that helped it shoot up the DEG Watched at Home chart from eighth place last week to land in first place. It looks like Warner Bros. should break even on this film before too long. On the downside, the studio only had two other entries in the top twenty, leaving Sony in first place in that regard with five releases in the top twenty this week. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for May 19th, 2020

May 20th, 2020

I think it’s a great week on the home market for a few reasons, one of which is selfish. Amazon finally got its act together and upcoming releases are appearing on the site so I can pre-plan weeks, which makes my job easier. It also is making my wallet very scared, because there are a number of amazing releases coming out soon. This includes several new releases this week that are worth picking up like Buffaloed, Emma., Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, etc. and those aren’t even the contenders for Pick of the Week. That list is limited to The Good Place: The Complete Series Blu-ray and The Quintessential Quintuplets: Season 1. In the end I went with The Good Place, which I think will have a wider appeal. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Sony Scores Again

May 14th, 2020

Sony continues to have a good year, given the circumstances. They just chalked up a win on the DEG Watched at Home Chart for the third week in a row. However, this week it was Bloodshot that topped the chart by rocketing up the chart 11 places. Why the massive jump? It debuted on DVD / Blu-ray. We haven’t seen an increase that dramatic since we’ve been tracking this chart; however, this is also a film that was still in theaters when Covid-19 forced it into VOD early, so there’s mitigating circumstances. More...

DEG Watched at Home Chart: Reruns Dominate Home Viewing

May 7th, 2020

For the third week in a row, the top five films on the DEG Watched at Home Chart remain the same, although there are changes in the order from last week. Bad Boys for Life remained in first place. Meanwhile, Sony remained the only studio with more than one entry in the in the top five and tied with Disney / Fox with five in the top twenty. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Bad Boys Continues Sony’s Good Year

April 30th, 2020

Bad Boys for Life rose to first place on this week’s DEG watched at home chart, thanks to its release on DVD and Blu-ray. This wasn’t Sony’s only entry in the in the top five. In fact, the studio was tied with Disney / Fox with five in the top twenty. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Skywalker Remains Top Draw

April 23rd, 2020

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker remained on top of the chart on this week’s DEG Watched at Home Chart. In fact, the top five were nearly identical to the top five from last week, so we are going to spend some more time looking lower down the list. More...

DEG Watched At Home Chart: Skywalker Rides High

April 16th, 2020

With Covid-19 still running high, and the industry’s focus shifted to what people are watching at home, we’re please to announce the launch of a new chart here at The Numbers. The DEG Watched at Home Top 20 chart, produced by our friends at the Digital Entertainment Group, looks at the most popular films being watched at home each week. This includes traditional DVD and Blu-ray sales, digital sales (“EST”), and digital rentals (“tVOD”), with rankings based on the total consumer spending for a given title across those four categories. Note that it does not currently include PVOD releases, like the recent debut of Trolls: World Tour. The weekly chart will be published each Thursday for the week ending the previous Saturday.

This week, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker led the way, as it did last week. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, because even though the film earned the weakest reviews of the live-action Star Wars films, it is still a Star Wars film. More...

VOD Releases: Will these VOD Releases Rescue the Movie Industry?

March 26th, 2020

With the COVID-19 outbreak causing mass shutdowns of non-essential businesses in a lot of places, theatrical releases are, for the most part, non-existent. However, the movie industry is trying to rapidly adapt to this and so are we. They are fast-tracking lots of theatrical releases to VOD and we will be expanding our coverage of VOD releases. Like last week, there are a lot of fast-tracked theatrical releases coming out this week, but we also have the more typical VOD premieres to talk about. Of the former category, Bad Boys for Life is clearly leading the way, although Birds of Prey is coming out on Friday rather than Tuesday, so it gets a jump on the action. Of the latter category, Banana Split is the film that I’m most interested in seeing. Sadly, there are so many major VOD releases this week that I fear it will slip between the cracks. More...

International Box Office: One Last Shot at the Box Office

March 18th, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak has been causing major closures of theater chains both domestically and internationally, which means this could be the last meaningful box office report for weeks, if not months. Bloodshot led the way with $12.47 million on 10,443 screens in 59 markets for an early international total of $14.59 million. The film is playing in most major markets, but it only cracked $1 million in three of them, led by Russia at $2.47 million on 1,665. Indonesia isn’t considered a major market, but the film earned $1.72 million on 868 screens there. The film topped the charts in both of those markets, but had to settle for second place in Mexico with $1.13 million on 1,510 screens in that market. More...

Friday Estimates: COVID-19 Outbreak Takes Out Box Office

March 14th, 2020

I Still Believe debuted in first place with $4.0 million on Friday, putting it on pace for close to $11 million over the full weekend. On the positive side, this is what was predicted, so at least it is matching lowered expectations. On the negative side, it won’t be enough to remain in first place for long. Its reviews are mixed, but it did earn an A-rating from CinemaScore, which is easily the best of the three new releases that came out this week. More...

Weekend Predictions: Trio of Films Opening Wide could be Last Wide Releases for Weeks

March 12th, 2020

Wash your hands. This could be the worst weekend of the year at the box office, perhaps even the worst weekend of the past several years. COVID-19 has caused the suspension of the NBA and NHL seasons, while practically every wide release for the next several weeks has been pushed back indefinitely. This news is very likely going to hurt ticket sales as people are taking the concept of “self isolation” seriously. Last weekend, Onward and Sonic the Hedgehog were hit the hardest, which makes sense, as families would be the first to avoid going out because of a pandemic, but now I think general audiences will also avoid crowds. Worse still, none of the three wide releases were expected to be anything more than midlevel hits at the best of times. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if none of Bloodshot, The Hunt, and I Still Believe hit $10 million over the weekend. This weekend last year, Captain Marvel earned $67.99 million during its second weekend of release. That will be more than the three new releases will open with combined. It could be more than their combined domestic totals. More...

International Box Office: Onward Starts On Top, but it could have a Short Journey in Theaters

March 12th, 2020

Onward opened in first place internationally with just $28.0 million in 47 markets during its opening weekend. Worse still, the film has opened in most major markets and it wasn’t a serious hit in any of them. Its biggest market was the U.K., where it did open in first place with $4.45 million on 632 theaters. It also earned first place in France ($3.5 million) and in Mexico ($2.84 million). On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Russia ($2.99 million on 1,631 screens) and Germany ($1.7 million). More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Onward on the Outs

March 10th, 2020

It was a bad weekend at the box office. There’s really no way to spin this in a positive way. Onward opened just below the low end of predictions with just $39.12 million. The Way Back couldn’t make up the difference, as it only managed $8.17 million. The overall box office was up 2.0% from last weekend at just over $100 million. Sadly, this was 52% lower than the same weekend last year when Captain Marvel debuted. I don’t think anyone truly thought 2020 would win this weekend in the year-over-year competition. However, I don’t think many thought it would lose this badly. In fact, 2020 has slipped below 2019’s pace by 1.3% or $22 million at $1.68 billion to $1.70 billion. This is a disaster. More...

Weekend Estimates: Onward Hits $40 million, Maybe

March 8th, 2020

According to Disney, Onward will earn $40.0 million during its opening weekend. I strongly suspect they rounded up to get to that number, because opening below $40 million would have been a lot harder to spin in a positive way and they wanted to delay that admission one more day. Or maybe the final weekend number will be higher and I will have egg on my face. If it does match its estimates, it will still be on the lower end of expectations, but it will at least have a very healthy internal multiplier, meaning its reviews and its A minus from CinemaScore are helping its box office numbers. The film’s demographics were evenly split with 52% of the audience being female and 42% being general audiences vs. 58% families. Internationally, the film really struggled with just $28.0 million in 47 markets. The film opened in most major markets and this includes first place debut in the U.K. ($4.4 million); France ($3.3 million); and Mexico ($3.0 million). On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in both Russia ($2.1 million) and Germany ($1.9 million). The film is going to need very long legs or a massive home market run to break even any time soon. More...

Friday Estimates: Onward is Off the Pace

March 7th, 2020

It looks like March will start slower than anticipated, as Onward only managed $12.1 million on Friday, putting it on pace for just under $40 million during its opening weekend. If it does miss $40 million by any real degree, then it will be Pixar’s worst wide opening since Toy Story. Even if it avoids that fate, it is on pace to have the worst three-day opening for a Pixar film since The Good Dinosaur, and that film opened on a Wednesday. I’m not sure how to explain this other than look at the COVID-19 outbreak. Granted, its reviews are strong, but well below average for the studio. Likewise, its CinemaScore is a mere A minus, which isn’t great for a family film. It’s still good, but not great, certainly better than its box office numbers would indicate. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Onward Begins Behind Sonic’s Speedy Pace

March 6th, 2020

Onward started its box office run with $2 million in previews on Thursday. By comparison, Sonic the Hedgehog earned $3 million during its previews last month. It is even lower than the $2.6 million Dumbo earned last year. Granted, this film earned better reviews than those two films earned, so hopefully that will result in better legs, but we won’t have any real evidence for that till tomorrow when Friday estimates show up. I choose to remain cautiously optimistic with regards to our predictions. More...

Weekend Predictions: Onward and Upward?

March 6th, 2020

The first weekend of March should be much better than the last weekend of February was, as Onward is widely expected to be a much bigger hit than The Invisible Man was. Unfortunately, it is also widely expected to not be enough to compete with what Captain Marvel made this weekend last year. In fact, it isn’t expected to make as much during its opening weekend as Captain Marvel made during its opening day. 2020 is going to get destroyed in the year-over-year comparison. More...

International Box Office: Sonic Completes Threepeat

March 5th, 2020

Sonic The Hedgehog is unstoppable on the international chart earning first place for the third weekend in a row. This past weekend, it pulled in $26.8 million in 62 markets for totals of $137.2 million internationally and $265.8 million worldwide. The film had no major market openings, but did open very well in both Indonesia and Poland at $2 million and $1.1 million respectively. The film has already earned enough to break even and it is quickly becoming one of Paramount’s biggest hits in the last few years. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Invisible Man first Horror Film Truly Seen by Audiences

March 3rd, 2020

It has not been a good year for horror films so far, but The Invisible Man broke the slump by earning first place over the weekend with $28.21 million. It is already the biggest horror hit of the year after just three days of release. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough, as the overall box office fell 4.2% from last weekend to $98 million. Worse still, this was 14% lower than the same weekend last year. Granted, 2020 is still ahead of 2019, so there is no reason to panic. In fact, thanks to weekday numbers, the lead has grown to $116 million / 8.1% at $1.55 billion to $1.43 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Invisible Man Appears at Top of Chart

March 1st, 2020

The Invisible Man will debut this weekend with $29 million, according to Universal’s Sunday morning projection. That’s enough to make it the highest-grossing horror movie of 2020 after just three days in release, and is well ahead of predictions. The result is helped considerably by strong reviews, with the film earning a B+ from CinemaScore, and a 90% critics’ score and 89% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. More...

Friday Estimates: Invisible Man Makes Its Presence Felt

February 29th, 2020

The Invisible Man opened with $9.8 million on Friday, which means it is the sixth-biggest horror film released in 2020 so far after just one day in theaters. It is projected to be in first place by the end of the weekend with $26 million, topping predictions, albeit by a very small margin. The film’s reviews remain excellent and it earned a B plus from CinemaScore. That is stellar, for a horror movie. It would be okay for an action movie and terrible for a family film / faith-based release, but it is amazing for a horror film. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will the Invisible Man be Seen this Weekend?

February 28th, 2020

It is the final weekend of the month and there’s only one wide release, The Invisible Man, which is the eighth horror film released in 2020 so far. This is going to hurt its box office potential; however, its reviews will be a major selling point, assuming audiences like the movie as much as critics do. This weekend last year was the first weekend of March. The box office was led by How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, while Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral made it a close race. Unless The Invisible Man is a surprise $40 million hit, 2020 has almost no chance of matching last year’s box office. More...

International Box Office: Sonic Runs Another Lap in First Place

February 27th, 2020

Sonic The Hedgehog remained in first place on the international chart this past weekend earning $38.3 million in 56 markets for totals of $96.5 million internationally and $203.0 million worldwide. It’s only major market opening of the weekend came in Russia where the film earned fourth place with $3.84 million on 2,042 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $6.62 million. I think Paramount would have been relatively happy had the film finished with just over $200 million worldwide, so this is a fantastic run so far. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Sonic Repeats on Top, Call Makes it Close

February 25th, 2020

It was a mixed weekend, but at least there was a relatively close race for top spot. This close race happened in part because The Call of the Wild beat expectations by a huge margin, but also because Sonic the Hedgehog fell faster than anticipated. This left the overall box office down 34% from last weekend to just $102 million, but drop-offs like this are normal for post-holiday weekend. Unfortunately, this was also 19% lower than the same weekend last year and this isn’t normal. Year-to-date, 2020 still has a lead over 2019, but it has shrunk to 6.2% or $82 million at $1.41 billion to $1.33 billion. Hopefully this recent weakness is only temporary. More...

Weekend Estimates: Sonic Outlasts the Sled Dog

February 23rd, 2020

Sonic the Hedgehog will remain in first place over the full weekend, albeit with a weaker-than-predicted sophomore stint of $26.3 million. That said, the film already has $106.6 million after just two weeks of release, which is likely more than Paramount thought it would earn in total. It is still too early to tell where the film will finish internationally, but there is also reasons to be optimistic there, as it has nearly $100 million in just two weeks of release, including $38.3 million in 56 markets this weekend. This includes a first place opening in Russia with $6.3 million on 1,800 screens, which is an impressive debut for that market and this time of year. More...

Friday Estimates: Call has a Wilder Start to the Weekend than Anticipated

February 22nd, 2020

The Call of the Wild really bounced back from Thursday’s previews to earn $8.05 million on Friday. The film is projected to earn $24 million to $25 million over the weekend, which is much better than predicted and puts it in a virtual tie with Sonic the Hedgehog for top spot. It is likely to have better legs than most new releases, because of its target audiences, which is a mix of families and older moviegoers who would be fans of the original novel. Additionally, its reviews are good, but not great, and it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, which is also good, but not great, for a family film. Unfortunately, it still has that $125 million production budget to deal with, so breaking even is very unlikely. Maybe it can save face though. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Wild has a Tame Debut

February 21st, 2020

The Call of the Wild earned $1 million on Thursday, which is better than expected. Granted, it is nowhere near the $3 million Sonic the Hedgehog earned last Thursday, but if The Call of the Wild can open with a third as much as Sonic the Hedgehog did last weekend, then it will beat expectations, but won’t come close to what it needs to earn to break even. Its reviews are about the same as Sonic’s reviews, but this film has a much smaller Fanboy Effect, so it should have better legs. We will have to wait till tomorrow to tell if that is true. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Audience Answer the Call?

February 20th, 2020

It’s a post-holiday weekend, so we are not expecting much at the box office. The Call of the Wild is earning good reviews, but not great reviews, while its buzz is far too quiet for its massive production budget. On the other hand, Brahms: The Boy II is a low-budget horror movie earning terrible reviews and frankly I’m sick of talking about these movies. Seriously. We are less than two months into the year and we’ve already at least four other low-budget horror movies to come out. I don’t want to hear anyone complain about too many super hero movies ever again. … Moving on. Neither of these two films are expected to challenge Sonic the Hedgehog for top spot on the box office chart. In fact, I’m not convinced Brahms will open in the top five. This weekend last year, the final installment of the How to Train Your Dragon opened with just over $55 million. There’s no way the box office will match that this year and 2020 is going to lose in the year-over-year competition unless the holdovers hold on a lot better than anticipated. More...

Theater Averages: Bill Cunningham has the Time of his Life

February 20th, 2020

The Times of Bill Cunningham led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $20,973 in two theaters. That’s amazing, especially since it is playing on VOD. The second best new release was Portrait of a Lady on Fire with an average of $19,500. This is arguably more impressive, because it was playing in more theaters, 22 theaters, while it had previously had an Oscar-qualifying run in December. Sonic the Hedgehog rounded out the top five with an average of $13,923. More...

International Box Office: Sonic Speeds its Way to $100 million Globally

February 20th, 2020

Sonic The Hedgehog opened with $43 million in 40 markets for an early worldwide total of just over $101 million. This is a fantastic start for a film that cost $90 million to make and there’s already talk of not just a sequel, but a Sonic Cinematic Universe. The film’s biggest individual market was Mexico, where it opened with $6.82 million, while the U.K. was right behind with $6.17 million on 619 screens. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Sonic Sets Records and Returns 2020 to the Top

February 19th, 2020

The long weekend turned out to be a lot more lucrative than many predicted, especially on the top. Sonic the Hedgehog broke records for a video game adaptation opening with $58.02 million over the three-day weekend and $70.00 million including Monday. It wasn’t the only success story of the weekend, as Fantasy Island did well for a low-budget horror movie and The Photograph did well enough to break even, eventually. The overall box office rose dramatically from last weekend, up 64%. However, it was a holiday weekend, so impressive growth was expected. More importantly, the box office was up 26% from the same weekend last year. And while the misalignment in Valentine’s Day did have an effect, this is still a good result for the box office. 2020 has opened a nearly $100 million lead on 2019, up by $99 million or 8.4% at $1.28 billion to $1.18 billion. A few more weeks like this and I will start to become optimistic. More...

Weekend Estimates: Sonic is Faster than a Speeding Pikachu

February 16th, 2020

Sonic the Hedgehog was in a close race with Detective Pikachu for the best weekend by a video game adaptation of all time, based on Friday’s estimates, however, that has changed. The film’s opening weekend estimates are $57 million over three days and $68 million over four, which is well above Detective Pikachu’s three-day opening weekend of $54.37 million. That said, this film’s reviews have slipped just below the reviews Detective Pikachu earned and Detective Pikachu didn’t open on a holiday, so that does make a difference. Regardless of whether or not you consider Sonic the Hedgehog to be the true video game box office champion, it is smashing predictions. Interestingly, the films demographics was 56% general audiences and only 44% families. Perhaps adult fans of the video game franchise decided to check out the movie for themselves. Boys under 12 outnumbered girls under 12 by a 69% to 31% margin, so this one is definitely leaning male. We have no international details, but the film is reportedly earning $100 million globally, which is a fantastic start for a movie that cost $90 million to make. I suspect Paramount is already working on a sequel. More...

Friday Estimates: Sonic Laps the Competition

February 15th, 2020

Love is in the air and it is moving fast. Sonic the Hedgehog decimated the competition, and predictions, earning $21.0 million on Friday. To put this into perspective, the next-best film is projected to earn just over $21 million over the four-day weekend. The film’s reviews have slipped, but they do remain in the overall positive level, while its A from CinemaScore is going to be a big help going forward. Paramount is projecting $60.0 million for the four-day weekend, but I suspect they are being overly cautious. Either way, it is clearly the studio’s biggest hit in over a year and will become their first $100-million movie since Bumblebee.

If the estimate holds, it will also be the best single day for a movie based on a game, bettering the $20.575 million earned by Pokémon: Detective Pikachu on its opening day back in September. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Sonic Speeds its way to $3 million

February 14th, 2020

Sonic the Hedgehog started its box office run with $3 million in midnight previews on Thursday. This is twice as much as The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part earned during its Thursday previews last year. I’m not saying Sonic will open with twice as much as that film did during its opening weekend, but there are reasons to be optimistic that it will top our predictions. Its reviews remain solid and there is a lack of direct competition with Dolittle slipping out of the top five this weekend. We will have a better idea where it is heading tomorrow, but so far I’m pleased. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Audience Love Sonic and the Other New Releases?

February 13th, 2020

Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day combine into one long weekend. It’s a great early weekend of the year and there are four films hoping to take advantage of the holiday to get off to a fast start. Unfortunately, four films is too many for all of them to succeed and it looks like one or two will fall between the cracks. Sonic the Hedgehog is the biggest release of the week and will likely earn more during its opening weekend than any of the three other films will earn in total. This includes The Photograph, the only new release that is earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. It looks like Fantasy Island will have some of the worst reviews of the year. Finally, Downhill has the quietest buzz and that’s going to kill it more than its mixed reviews will. Meanwhile, this weekend last year, Alita: Battle Angel opened with $28.5 million, while The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part earned $20.8 million during its sophomore stint. Sonic the Hedgehog should top that with ease. In fact, there are some who think it will top those two films’ combined weekend hauls. If so, then 2020 will return to its winning ways. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: 2020 Suffers Its First Loss

February 11th, 2020

It was bound to happen, I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon, but 2020 suffered its first loss in the year-over-year comparison. Birds of Prey failed to live up to the very low end of expectations opening with just $33 million. On the positive side, the holdovers held on really well and that helped limit losses. In fact, the overall box office was $95 million this weekend, up 18% from last weekend. That said, this is still down 16% from the same weekend last year and this number is a lot more important. Year-to-date, 2020 is still ahead of 2019 by $62 million or 6.2% at $1.07 billion to $1.01 billion, so we clearly shouldn’t be panicking this early on, but there are some troubling signs at the box office. More...

2020 Preview: February

February 1st, 2020

We had a great start to the year, sort of. Most films that opened / expanded wide in January are going to miss expectations; however, Bad Boys for Life and 1917 are so much stronger than anticipated that they alone will more than make up the difference. Looking forward, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is almost guaranteed to be the biggest hit of the month. There are two questions. Firstly, is it going to top Bad Boys for Life and become the biggest hit of the year so far? Secondly, is it going to be the only $100 million hit of month? Hopefully the answers to those questions are yes and no respectively, but no to both is would still be good news overall. Sonic the Hedgehog is looking better than before and frankly Paramount needs a hit after a very troubling 2019. Meanwhile, there are several midlevel hits that could help the overall box office. Last February was a mixed month with some hits, like How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, but some disappointing results as well, like from The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. I think it will be a close race in the year-over-year competition with 2020 winning some weeks and losing others. More...

Sonic the Hedgehog Trailer 2

November 12th, 2019

Adventure starring Ben Schwartz, James Marsden and Jim Carrey opens February 14 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Sonic the Hedgehog Trailer

April 30th, 2019

Adventure starring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey opens on November 8 ... Full Movie Details. More...